Just wondering if anyone can tell me what happens in BKK on Dec 31st? I appreciate that this isn't a Thai celebration, but I understand that places like KL make a big song & dance - are there public celebrations like fireworks on the river or anything like that?

Thanks

Tony

No organized celebration, but almost all good hotels, restaurants, and bars go all out for NY Eve activities. Depends what level and what type of NY Eve entertainment you want. Thailand celebrates three New Year's every year (Jan 1, Chinese New Year, and Thai Songkran new year), so plenty of chances for merry making.

I think a good view of some fireworks from a hotel room at midnight is probably key to the idea... I just saw some stuff on the Shangri-la website...

No organized celebration, but almost all good hotels, restaurants, and bars go all out for NY Eve activities.And many hotels charge a mandatory surcharge for its New Year's events, whether you are going to partake in that particular hotel's event or not.

HUGE party around World Central Plaza and Gaysorn Plaza. So many people you can barely move.

New Years Party in Bangkok (http://www.2bangkok.com/news05zf.shtml)

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If you're in a hotel on the river, the fireworks are great. But these hotels also charge an arm and a leg for their "special" dinner. You will need to make reservations at the hotel restaurants as well as at many others. (Do you have hotel reservations yet? Many of them have been sold out for a long time.)

I've spent the last three New Year's Eves in Bangkok, and I'm booked in again for this year. I agree with most of what has been posted above, but I'll add a bit.

December-January is the peak season for tourism to Thailand. Tons of Europeans come for extended holidays, and plenty of North Asians and Americans come as well. Dec. 21-Jan. 10 is usually considered the peak of the peak season, and for lack of a better word, Western New Year's Eve is the ultrapeak night. Hotels in the resort areas have lengthy minimum stays and compulsory events (e.g., $100-a-plate set dinners) on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. In Bangkok, minimum stays are often shorter (around three days) and limited to the New Year's period. Hotels can and do charge their rack rates for nearly all rooms and sell out well in advance over the New Year's period. The most loyal customers, ahem, don't get any discounts.

In part for the benefit of visiting Westerners but also to encourage locals to spend money and because Thais just love a party, the entire holiday season takes on a festival feeling throughout late December. Major stores, malls, and hotels are thoroughly decked out for Christmas. In Bangkok, at least, Christmas Eve is a major party night. Nightclubs are packed with young professionals. Upscale hotels and restaurants attract a slightly older crowd for other kinds of special events. (The same is true in China, I understand, while in Japan Christmas Eve is more of a Valentine's Day than anything else.) That party feeling continues right through New Year's, when a real carnival atmosphere envelops all of Bangkok. The city is extraordinarily crowded with tourists and Thais alike (many country folk come to the city, while many city folk escape to the country). It is indeed very much like New York City, and the area around Central World Plaza at Sukhumvit and Ratchajamdri is the equivalent of Times Square, complete with countdown to midnight and outdoor concerts. At midnight, fireworks go off across the city, though the most elaborate displays are put on by the riverside hotels for guests at their ultra-luxe black-tie dinners (upwards of $200-a-plate at many of 'em). Nightclubs and other venues throughout the city are more packed than ever. If you want to enjoy the fun but don't necessarily feel up to fighting the madding crowds, book in to a riverside hotel--if you can--and toast midnight in your room with friends or loved ones.

That's what Mr. Megatop and I have done for the last several years. We went out for some revelry in the early evening, when it's already in full swing, then went back to our hotel for a room-service dinner and a toast at midnight as the fireworks went off right in front of us. The exception was Dec. 31, 2004, of course, when the tragedy of the tsunami cast a pall over the celebrations. This year might be a bit different, too, because we'll be flying back from Hong Kong on the afternoon of Dec. 31st, since (to my surprise) we found that Hong Kong basically does not celebrate Western New Year at all.

Major stores, malls, and hotels are thoroughly decked out for Christmas.

Coincidentally, as I was reading this, I just got a text from my wife telling me that Emporium on Sukhumvit are putting up their Christmas tree today (2-Nov) :D

This year might be a bit different, too, because we'll be flying back from Hong Kong on the afternoon of Dec. 31st, since (to my surprise) we found that Hong Kong basically does not celebrate Western New Year at all.

Apparently Lan Kwai Fong used to be the main area for parties at New Year but some people were crushed to death in the crowds there in the early 90s and it was never the same after that.

I spent last New Years Eve in Bangkok. Surprised how much fun I had. While Thai people normally like to keep to themselves when they go out, I found them so outgoing and much more carefree than usual.

Central World Plaza (Old World Trade Center) seems like the main place, but Thais love to Celebrate so anywhere you'll want to go will have something special going on... from RiverSide hotels to Khao San Rd.

I'll be in Phuket this New Years, but Bangkok is the place to be!

Whatever else you do, make sure you stay on the river.
So, it's the Sheraton and the Hilton if you are on a budget or the Peninsula and the Shangrila for a moderate fee and finally the Oriental for that little bit extra. :) It is absolutely incredible, the hotels have fireworks every night and you can spend an evening over a couple bottles of Australian white, oohing and aahing. FWIW, if you book a month out at the Sheraton, there are some very good deals going over Christmas, which is not their busiest time, regards and whatever/wherever you choose, you will have a wonderful time in BKK over this period